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Monday, September 28, 2015

It's time again for Secret Recipe Club reveal day for my group, Group D!
What is Secret Recipe Club? It's a bunch of food bloggers separated
into four groups that post once a month on a designated Monday. Each
month, we are paired with another foodie from our group secretly (hence
the name). We then pick a recipe (or two or more) from that blog and
make it. On our reveal day, we reveal whose blog we had and what
recipe(s) we chose all at the same time. It's like a Secret Santa every
month, but with food and blogs! It's a great deal of fun :)

This month I was assigned to a Group D veteran, Nicole, of I Am A Honeybee. Her about me makes me a happy person. I need to do mine up with some random facts about me. It makes me feel so much more connected to Nicole - like for example, we both get anxious opening presents in front of people. Glad I'm not alone there! Nicole has an almost 2 year old daughter, Autumn, who is a cutie patootie! AND she just got married and her wedding pictures are SO BEAUTIFUL. I especially loved their cocktail hour pictures - a lot of candid shots and it looks like such a happy occasion.

Anyways...I went to Nicole's blog to look for food and I decided to either do a burger recipe or a pizza recipe. I immediately found my recipe: Nacho Cheeseburgers (but please, do stop by and see Nicole's other fabulous recipes here) - yes, NACHO CHEESEBURGERS. Then I actually looked at the recipe and was even more excited! I've been a guacamole kick lately - even though no one else in the house eats it - and I was so happy that I had an excuse to get some for a dinner recipe and no one else had to pout about having to eat it. I got to have the guac all to myself :) I noted in the instructions how my burgers stuck a little to my pan, so I will use my griddle next time. However, despite the slight sticking - these burgers were so good. Nick looked at me like I was crazy when he saw the beans in the burger mix, but he was pleasantly surprised. They add a little texture to the burger and you get a hint of a bean taste, but it's not overwhelming and doesn't take away from the burger taste. I loved the crunch of the chips in there too :) Thanks, Nicole, for a very yummy recipe that will absolutely be a regular on burger night!

Sunday, September 27, 2015

Hello, all! I'm back for another round of the Sunday Supper Movement. Today's theme is Fall Flavors and, of course, I couldn't think of anything more fitting than these little cupcakes that I had made last year for my birthday. But somehow I still hadn't posted on the blog. Gotta love when it's been more than a year since you've made a recipe before it goes up on the blog. Whoopsies.

Every year for my birthday, I sit down and scour my cake/dessert Pinterest boards for the recipe I most want to try for my birthday cake. I know some people find it weird, but I love making my own. I don't really have enough excuses to make cake, so I am definitely using my own birthday as a time to make cake! Each year I go in thinking I'll make a cheesecake, but ultimately end up with something else. Part of why I love September so much is because pumpkin everything is out. And when pumpkin everything starts coming out, I go CRAZY. I buy all the pumpkin everythings. This year I have purchased at least one new pumpkin product each time I've gone to the grocery store. So I think it was no surprise to anyone when I chose to make pumpkin cupcakes for my birthday.

These little cuties are very moist and delectable. Buttercream is one of my favorites and honestly, this buttercream takes the cake. Hardy har har. But really it does. It's so delicious and I could see it going with so many other flavors, too. But it definitely complimented the pumpkin so very well. I chose to make them look super fancy with some gold sanding sugar and edible pearls. I just adore how they turned out and almost hated to eat them! All in all, they were perfect for my birthday and I definitely need to make them again this fall!

Thursday, September 24, 2015

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #GladeForFall #CollectiveBias

Every Monday, I go to my happy place...Kroger! Right now is my favorite time of the year and I look forward to going to the grocery store. Why? Because there is always a new pumpkin treat to discover or an adorable owl coffee mug, candle holder, etc. I try to steer clear of our candle aisle because I have a candle problem, but I saw the little blue “look what’s new” tags walking past and had to stop!

I picked up a few of the new Glade® Limited Edition Fall Collection Fall Scents goodies and couldn’t wait to go home to make my house smell all autumn-y. I picked up a pack of each of the new scents of the PlugIns® scented oils - Hit the Road™ and Pumpkin Pit Stop™ - and I picked up a Pumpkin Pit Stop™ Jar Candle. Our Kroger is currently moving stuff around, so that stuff is categorized in the aisles in a more common sense way, so unfortunately I cannot tell you the exact aisle number you can find these on. But you know your Kroger store - these lovelies are in the candle aisle.

Monday, September 21, 2015

I had to go back and check through my old MPMs to see if I had mentioned our themes and I hadn't. So now that school is under way, we are a tad busy. We have PTA, Cub Scouts, Girl Scouts, plus allergy shots twice a week. We typically go over to my in laws' house on Saturdays. So we came up with a new menu theme. Mondays are either one pot or crockpot because I have no time on Mondays anymore. I grocery shop on Mondays, Matthew (and Nick who has discovered he basically is the den leader) has Cub Scouts, Cami (I am volunteering, Nick isn't home from work yet, so I take both boys too) has Girl Scouts, and on occasion, there are also PTA meetings. All on Monday. So I don't have time to make dinner. Tuesday is Taco Tuesday - we always have a Mexican-themed dish. Wednesday is Soup Night (chili, soup, stew, chowder). Thursday is Throwback Thursday. Friday is Pizza/Burgers - Nick likes to refer to it as our All-American Night. Sunday, I try to make a more involved dish because I will have the most time and Nick isn't just getting home from work and trying to work out and get some college done, so he can help with the baby. *PHEW* So here is what is on the menu this week...following those themes :)

Friday, September 18, 2015

I swear that there is broth in my bowl. I swear it!! These pictures were taken last fall, but in recent times, I've tried to take pictures of Nick's bowls of soup. Why Nick's and not mine? I'm that weirdo who won't drink my soup broth...or cereal milk. Nick likes a good amount of broth in his soup, like most normal people do. Alas, this is a soup recipe. I promise :)

And it is a fantabulous soup recipe. Last year began our obsession with kale. We ate all sorts of kale soup recipes for our weekly soup nights. The older two kiddos love kale because it keeps its crunch. They have started to complain about veggies if they are cooked until soft. They definitely look forward to soup when it has kale in it. Let's hope Mason follows suit!

Lastly, if you have trouble finding ground pork (which I do on occasion - I swear the meat department is trolling me), a great substitute would be spicy Italian sausage. Be sure to lessen the amount of red pepper flakes though or it'll be hard to eat!

Monday, September 14, 2015

I don't know if y'all have noticed, but I often have repeating breakfast recipes on my MPMs. No, I'm not making them over and over...rather I never get around to making them. So I need to get my butt in gear and do this...because I have looked forward to each of these. It's also my birthday week and I decided upon Italian Creme Cake for my birthday cake!

Thursday, September 10, 2015

When I was younger, I was very accustomed to eating pineapple pancakes. They were my absolute favorite and it wasn't until we went through the elimination diet with Matthew, my oldest, that I branched out and tried banana pancakes. We had to eliminate basically everything but fresh fruits and veggies and meat. He couldn't have any rice, flour, corn, soy, dairy, egg, spices, etc. We slowly added things back into his diet and I had found a banana pancakes recipe in a food allergy book.

I honestly can say that I'm not big on bananas if they aren't mushed up into something. I love banana cake, banana bread, banana muffins....but I won't sit down and eat a plain old banana. I hate the texture. I had my reservations about the banana pancake recipe in the food allergy book, but Matthew had always loved the banana baby food and, like a good momma, I was gonna make something that my baby man (or lady) liked. And it turns out...we all love banana pancakes!

I received Jess's blog for Secret Recipe Club a few months ago and made a delicious chowder recipe and this recipe for banana pancakes. I posted the chowder for my reveal day post and, obviously, just now am getting around to sharing the pancake recipe. Because of the cinnamon and pecans, this breakfast treat is very reminiscent of fall. They are nice, thick pancakes. Add some maple syrup and you're good to go!

Wednesday, September 09, 2015

I made these nuts for New Year's Eve for a snack during the prep of the other foods - and for Nick, in particular. Nick snacks like crazy during the holiday food prep and if you want any food to make it to the table, there has to at least be a cheese tray for him to stay out of the main course. On NYE, we like to do just appetizers for "dinner" and we kind of spread it out over the course of about 8 hours - from 4pm to midnight. I'm not really sure if that's the norm for everyone else, but I love it! We usually do some kind of cheese dip, wings, and meatballs. We dig into the buckeyes and potato candy that my mom-in-law makes each year. This past NYE, I also made strawberry salsa with cinnamon tortilla chips and s'mores dip (that we dipped fresh fruit and grahams into). But again, it's always a good idea to have a snack around.

This recipe makes a pretty decent size batch and I sent some home with my mom-in-law because not only did we love them, she did too. They are one of those things that you have to hide before you devour all of them! I personally don't care for maple syrup or honey (which this recipe has) and figured that I wouldn't like the nuts at all, but I was totally wrong. I loved them! They taste like fall, first of all, and the little cayenne really adds dimension to the flavor. You get a little bit of that heat as an end note, but it isn't overwhelming!

*Update 12/28/15 - found my recipe, so I updated the quantities I used!

Monday, September 07, 2015

Monday is almost over - we had a nice relaxing day and a nice relaxing dinner instead of what I had originally planned. We went all out with biscuits & gravy, blueberry pancakes, scrambled eggs, bacon, and sausage :) No total spent this week because I'm shopping in at least two parts. Hard to keep track that way :/

Wednesday, September 02, 2015

It's not September without pumpkin recipes, right?! Okay okay, maybe it's still September with or without pumpkins, but I can't help myself. I go straight up banana sandwich for some pumpkiny food!

I don't make coffeecake enough. I love having an excuse to have cake for breakfast. This beautiful, gorgeous cake has a streusel like topping along with the sugar glaze. Although it's not completely from scratch, the yellow cake mix really makes for a fluffy, moist treat. And it really really is perfect with coffee.

Tuesday, September 01, 2015

Happy first day of September!! It's my most favorite month and time of the year - not because it's my birthday month, but because it means cooler weather is coming, pumpkin everything, school time, and pretty important...SOUP!! Usually, we skip the soups/stews/chowders during the summer. This past summer (which is definitely not over here in Tennessee just because it's September), we decided to continue soup night. I'm running low on soups to try on my soup board on Pinterest...so that has resulted in me making some recipes multiple times.

Last fall when we were staying at Nick's mom's house before we bought our house, I made this lovely little chowder recipe that I'm sharing with y'all today! Can I just say that her fiestaware photographs SO WELL!?! This particular color is my favorite of all her fiestaware.

Because I completely forgot about this recipe until I pulled it up today to type out, we have not had it again. Why did I forget about it??? I'm not sure. It's one of the very best soups/chowders that I have ever had. It has the carrots, onions, and celery that you just have to have in any soup. Then you have potatoes! I always always leave the skins on because I really like the texture. I actually chose this particular chowder because Nick needs meat in every dinner and even though I would be fine with just a cheesy potato chowder, the addition of chicken was definitely a welcome one!

Even though it isn't cooler yet, this soup is perfect for dinner. It's one that you can't get enough of!

I try my hardest to give credit where credit is due. If I don't know the source, I mark it as "source unknown". Please feel free to contact me if you know where the recipe originates. I hope that everyone is making sure to cite sources because the fantastical minds behind recipes really deserve credit for them :)

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